Microsoft Bing Strengthens Links With Facebook

Microsoft's search engine "Bing" has started showing its users the websites and products that their Facebook buddies like, the latest attempt by the company to replace market leader Google. The move is intended to make search results look more personal and is part of the four-year partnership between two internet giants.

The service is optional and will only work if users are already signed into Facebook or if Facebook content is stored in "cookies" on their PC.

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, told reporters at the launching ceremony, "This is just the beginning; there is going to be a whole lot more to come over time".

The new feature makes use of a service offered by Facebook that enables third-party sites to insert a "Like" button in their web pages. When a user clicks this button, a link to their Facebook profile is created. The links are later used to generate personalized results that are displayed in a different box next to traditional links.

At the launching ceremony, the companies showed the example of an eatery search that included restaurants which Facebook buddies liked.

"This is the long-awaited 'social search' that I've been talking about and waiting for years", wrote Charlene Li, an analyst at the Altimeter Group, while adding that the collaboration "hits Google right between the eyes".

Google said recently that it desires to have the right of entry to Facebook social graph data, urging the social networking website for more openness.

Bing is presently the third most widely used search engine after Google and Yahoo. But its market share has been increasingly slowly.